Dewitt Clinton

In 1830, Peter Cooper, the inventor of America's first steam locomotive, showed Baltimore & Ohio Rail Road executives with Tom Thumb that locomotive travel could compete economically with canal transportation through lower cost and greater speed. Within a year, the Mohawk and Hudson Rail Road began service between Schenectady and Albany, creating America's first passenger rail road. Travel between those cities by way of the Erie Canal had taken a full day because a 220-foot rise in elevation required 22 slow locks, but on September 24, 1831, the Mohawk and Hudson's locomotive DeWitt Clinton pulled three passenger coaches over the 16-mile route in just 47 minutes, astonishing the public and helping demonstrate how quickly transportation was changing. The DeWitt Clinton was scrapped in 1833 and replaced by a faster locomotive, and in 1847 the Mohawk and Hudson was merged into the new Albany and Schenectady line. A facsimile of the DeWitt Clinton was built in 1893 for the World's Fair and was purchased in 1935 by the Henry Ford Museum, where it remains on permanent exhibit.

Schenectady, New York · United States